In addition to earning home ice through all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, there are 350,000 other reasons the Capitals should be excited about the chance to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy.

The Caps are one point away from clinching their second Presidents' Trophy and can claim that distinction Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The reward? Home ice and a cool $350,000 to be shared among team personnel and players. How that’s divided is entirely up to each team.

Aside from the money, the debate rages over whether winning the Presidents’ Trophy is a blessing or a curse.

"For me, personally, it’d be just another goal that we put in front of the guys," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.

"It’d be some fulfillment because we said we wanted to do a couple things this year, and we’ve knocked off most of them. That’s one of the last ones for the regular season that we can knock off.

"When you’re in the NHL for a long time and you’re coaching, you realize how hard it is to win games in this league. To take nothing away from the regular season, but the regular season can be an absolute grind and making the playoffs, you can’t take that for granted. There’s a lot of good teams that are not going to make the playoffs, there’s a lot of teams that expected to make it and didn’t and some teams on the other end who thought they had a chance and are going to get in.

"It’s a hard league, and it’s hard to get in the playoffs year in and year out. When you have a season to this point that we have, it would mean that these guys have been a real committed group and professional for a long period of time and that’s nothing to frown upon. It’s a good achievement. It’s the best achievement really, you can get in the regular season."

Since first being awarded at the conclusion of the 1985-86 season, the Presidents’ Trophy champions have gone on to win the Stanley Cup eight times in 29 seasons, the most recent being the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks.

In addition, three other Presidents’ Trophy winners have lost in the Stanley Cup Final, while six, including the 2010 Capitals, have been eliminated in the first round.

In all, 15 different NHL teams have won the Presidents’ Trophy over the past 29 years. The Red Wings have won it six times, the Rangers three times and seven other teams have won it twice (Bruins, Flames, Blackhawks, Avalanche, Stars, Oilers, Canucks).

Below is the complete list of Presidents' Trophy winners and how far they went in the playoffs:

The Capitals got their trade deadline started early by trading for defensemen Michal Kempny and Jakub Jerabek. Washington has been struggling of late, but do their new acquisitions address the team's weaknesses?

JJ Regan and Tarik El-Bashir evaluate the two trades and talk about where they could fit into the lineup.

Jerabek is a 26 y.o., 5-11, 200-pound Czech who has appeared in 25 games this season for MTL. That’s the extent of his NHL experience. He’s a left shot, just like Michal Kempny. #Capspic.twitter.com/XxwT0NclKt

Is the Caps’ D corps better? Well, that remains to be seen. But it had become clear to MacLellan and Co. in recent weeks that the status quo was not going to cut it. This month, in fact, the team has allowed 39 goals in 10 games. Only the Rangers (40) have allowed more in the same span.

With the trade deadline looming next Monday, the Caps now have roughly $617,000 in cap space, according to www.capfriendly.com, and are at the roster maximum of 23 players. So they would need to make a move in order to add another body.